


Bacarra Roses

by londonmarie



Category: Sherlock Holmes & Related Fandoms
Genre: Gen, One-Sided Sherlock Holmes/Molly Hooper
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-14
Updated: 2017-01-14
Packaged: 2018-09-17 10:40:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,088
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9320045
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/londonmarie/pseuds/londonmarie
Summary: An Introspection at the evolution of Molly Hooper





	

She supposed she should have been frightened that she was attracted to a consulting criminal. But to be fair she was also attracted to a consulting detective. Both of them were supposedly sociopaths. That could be said of Jim, that's for sure. But the same couldn’t be said of Sherlock, much to his disappointment. When she had told him that maybe sociopaths were her type it wasn't something she was spouting at random. There was equal attraction to Sherlock and to Jim. Sherlock only won out because of their shared history. Her relationship with Sherlock spanned years, whereas her relationship with Jim only lasted for a few days. She wasn't one hundred percent sure that he was truly interested in her. It did seem like that he was using her to get to Sherlock. 

Shortly after Sherlock had approached her with his plan to fake his death James Moriarty appeared asking the same of her. Molly would like to think that perhaps if he was cruel to her or if he hadn’t appeared so interested in her that she would have said no instantly. As it happened Molly didn’t say no outright or even at all, in so many words. It was Moriarty who figured out what her answer was without her having to speak a word. When Mycroft asked her why Moriarty had come to her, what they had talked about she lied. Lied through her teeth. Mycroft Holmes didn’t even question her. He brushed aside her encounter with Moriarty as tying up loose ends on the criminal’s part. Moriarty’s back had been towards the camera so Mycroft never saw the quick glimpse of disappointment and hurt in his eyes as Molly declined his request to help him fake his death. Perhaps a more decent person would have informed Sherlock and Mycroft that they had been approached by their nemesis to fake his death. But as time passed Molly found excuses for why she hadn’t told anyone about the request. Eventually Molly convinced herself that Jim approaching her didn’t matter not in the long run. Sherlock was well on his way destroying the Moriarty Network. 

When Molly saw Sherlock standing behind her in the mirror, in the locker room at Bart’s, Molly’s first thought was to ask if he had seen Jim, if he had come across the criminal mastermind and finally killed him. If the game was in fact over. But Sherlock made no mention of James. So Molly thought that perhaps not. If he had Sherlock would have made some mention of it to John, or Greg and it would trickle down the grapevine, until Molly heard it in passing by some coworker. But time passed and no word of Moriarty. No mention, no whisper. At least in public.

Every year since her brief entanglement with Jim from I.T Molly received a single black bacarra rose on her birthday. On Christmas, New Years and Valentine ’s Day she would receive a bouquet of them. Always in her flat. No where suspicious where someone could mention them or comment about the unique roses this one girl got. A rose so red it looked black. That would be something a detail that would stick out in someone’s memory. That would be something that James wouldn’t do unless it served a purpose. Molly’s first instinct was to get rid of the flower the instant she saw it. But after receiving three dozen and one of the roses Molly felt slightly flustered, she looked up the meaning of the rose after hours of research to pinpoint what type of rose it was. The meaning left Molly even more confused. What was Moriarty trying to tell her, if anything? Was he telling her to be hopeful and positive? Was he sending a message that she was now on his list of people to kill? Was he saying goodbye in his own strange way? Was he fascinated by her? As the roses continued to be sent for years Molly was able to cross off the farewell aspect. Surely Moriarty wouldn’t be saying a long goodbye. 

When Jim’s face appeared on the telly, Molly slightly panicked. Would he finally come to kill her? She sat at her desk and waited for him to come, but he never came. When she arrived back home a rose was waiting for her on her bed. That made her realize, that perhaps he wasn’t going to kill her. She had just finished putting it in a vase on her nightstand when there was a knock on her door. Closing her bedroom door she went to her front door and was unsurprised when she saw Mycroft Holmes standing before her. It was an awkward conversation to say the least. He felt it relevant to tell her that her “fiancé” was found dead, his heart cut out and replaced with unidentified roses. Molly didn’t know how she kept from perking up at the mention of the roses. She tried to seem upset about the fact that someone she knew was murdered. But the truth was much darker than that. She hadn’t liked Tom. A bodyguard selected for her by Mycroft Holmes himself. The relationship she entered with Tom seemed like a logical choice. Who else would be interested in her? But in the end Mycroft had come down on Tom and told him if he wanted to pursue a relationship with Molly that would be fine, but he would be out of a job. Which Tom was fine with, but Molly wasn’t. Sherlock was back and she knew that she was being awful. Using Tom, to get over a man that never showed interest in her. It was easy to pretend with him while Sherlock was out of the country. But she couldn’t hide her feelings when he returned, that was the excuse she used. So Molly ended the relationship. But Molly ended the relationship because she couldn’t stand to be near him anymore. The things he said bored her out of her mind. He had wanted to get a dog and get rid of Toby. 

Mycroft had analyzed her for a moment and seemed to decide that it wasn’t worth pursuing his line of questioning. He gave up. He would leave the deduction to Sherlock. What Mycroft didn’t know was that his brother’s relationship with the pathologist had become strained to the point where Molly would barely talk to Sherlock. She would ignore him when he came into the lab. Perhaps if Mycroft wasn’t so distracted with Sherrinford he would have been monitoring his little brother more closely. Also if he hadn’t sent Anthea away, she would have picked up on the change in the relationship. But some lines Mycroft Holmes would not cross and Anthea would tempt him to cross a line, so he sent her to monitor Irene Adler. The woman his brother was so fascinated with, the woman that Sherlock saved. Though Sherlock believed Mycroft to be in the dark about that situation. 

Just because Mycroft decided to let Sherlock handle Molly Hooper, it didn’t meant that he wouldn’t be setting up safeguards. Mycroft cleverly inserted his people into Bart’s, into the surround flats around Molly’s, a person at her favorite restaurant, café, and bookstore. There was something Molly was hiding, but he didn’t have the time to spend on trying to figure it out. But for all his cleverness, Mycroft considered himself above those he called goldfish, and he considered Molly Hooper to be a goldfish, so he never saw that Molly would begin to avoid the places he installed his people. She discreetly asked for a new schedule at work, and began looking for a new flat. Molly was almost ready to make her move when Mrs. Hudson called to inform her that Mary had been killed. Molly felt no connection to Mary other than acquaintance. She did feel bad for John and young Rosie. But Molly didn’t know the cause or events of her death. Perhaps if she did it would change things. 

When Sherlock called her not long after Mary’s death and said he needed her in two weeks with an ambulance Molly was confused but she went ahead and did as he asked. They didn’t see each other again until they met at John’s new therapist’s house. It was awkward and awful. It was a moment of despair for Molly. In less than a year Sherlock was using again, multiple times supposedly under the guise of a case. But Molly had seen many junkies come across her table to know that it wasn’t just for a case. Sherlock was craving a high because he was bored. Molly felt desperate. She didn’t think that Sherlock would come clean after a fourth or even fifth stint in rehab. She wasn’t even sure if he would survive until another stint. Molly swore as Sherlock and John walked into that hospital that she was done with Sherlock Holmes. 

But then John called her and explained everything and said that they needed to babysit Sherlock she didn’t refuse. She went and babysat him. Most of the time he was stuck in his mind palace, not realizing that every so often his phone would make a moaning sound as a text came in. Each time the text came, Molly broke just a little bit more. She never said anything, never acknowledged the texts, she would go home and cry and feel herself die just a little bit more each day. 

On Sherlock’s birthday, Molly woke and everything felt silent. A volatile calm settled in her. Something felt different. Everything felt like it would change. It was a weird feeling. But Molly tried to shake it off. She worked through her shift as if nothing was bothering her. Her pretending nothing was wrong, came to a pinpoint and shattered. She was doing a final round to make sure she had put everything away properly and was ready for the next shift. When she got to the morgue all the tables were covered with black bacarra roses. Molly’s heart stopped for a second when her eyes landed upon the middle table. In the center on top of the roses was a heart. A human heart freshly removed. Molly walked closer to the table and picked up the note and read it. The note simple said “For my Queen”. Molly was touched by the note, but knew she couldn’t keep it. She placed a kiss on it and went over to the sink and burned the note and washed the ashes down the drain. 

As she walked out of Bart’s she knew it would be for the last time. The roses let her know that her portion in the game was just beginning. With that knowledge, Molly left the roses. Let someone else clean them up. Let Sherlock or Mycroft deduce what they meant. Let them and everyone else ponder about the strange flowers. She suddenly felt giddy and lightheaded. It was joy she was feeling. Pure unadulterated joy. 

Molly met Sherlock, John, Greg, Mrs. Hudson and Mycroft at the little cake place for Sherlock’s birthday. She knew that she would help in giving him a birthday present of a lifetime. Molly pretended her smiles were for the little group. Pretended that her joy was for Sherlock. When his phone gave the moaning text alert she felt herself jolt with anticipation as everyone beside Sherlock looked at her with pity.

“Sherlock it’s rude to keep Irene waiting for a response.” She said calmly. That had garnered his attention. He looked at her.

“How do you know about Irene?” Molly gave a little shrug and a small smile.

“You’re not exactly discreet as much as you like to think you are.” Molly replied. She nodded at the phone. “Go ahead, it’s your birthday.”

As Sherlock looked at his mobile, Molly felt victorious. A viciousness had settled around her heart and seeped into her blood, melting into her bones until it swirled together in her soul. It took a great deal of self control from smiling as Sherlock’s face paled and his eyes widened.

“What is it?” John asked concerned. Sherlock placed the phone on the small table. On the screen was the body of Irene Adler with her chest cut open and where her heart should have been was a bouquet of roses so red they were almost black. James Moriarty himself was standing at her head with a cheesy white sign simply saying ‘Did you miss me?’


End file.
